(a) Field of the Invention
This application relates to a system for supporting a vise while in use. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a system that includes a vise and a support base that supports the vise in an upright position as well as in a horizontal position.
(b) Discussion of Known Art
In my U.S. Pat. No. 6,640,666, incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, I disclose a vise for securely holding a work piece such as a watch, delicate jewelry, or any other small, delicate item that needs to be solidly retained to allow work to be performed on the item. After working with the vise it became apparent that while the jaws and inserts use with my vise provide the needed secure grip of the work piece, there was a need for providing a sturdy support for the vise that was easy to use and would allow the use of the vise at any location on a variety of work surfaces.
The typical approach at supporting a vise is the use of a clamp or mechanical fasteners that fix the position of the vise at the edge of a workbench or other support surface. While this approach provides the steady support needed to allow the user of the vise to exert force on the work piece without having the vise move away from the force, it lacks versatility, convenience and flexibility, especially for light applications, such as train or airplane model building, soldering of electronic components, and crafts. For example, often a work piece must be positioned such that appropriate lighting or heating of the work piece can be provided. The use of traditional methods for supporting a vise would dictate that the lighting or heating be designed around the vise, due to the fixed location of the vise. Thus there remains a need for a system that can be easily used in areas where one must improvise a work area, such as where the user has limited space and must use a kitchen table as a work surface, for example.
Still further, the fixed location of known mounting methods also forces the user to move around the vise and work piece. Thus, there remains a need for a system that allows movement, flexibility, angular adjustability of the vise, and then secure, stable support for the vise without having to bolt down or clamp down the vise at its new location.
As explained in my U.S. Pat. No. 6,640,666, it was originally contemplated that my vise could be used with an optional base with a recess into which the vise portion could be inserted. The base portion as envisioned then also included a layer of skid-resistant material mounted on the bottom surface of the base in order to provide skid-resistance and stability for the vise system on most flat, regular surfaces. This original iteration of the base also further served to organize and/or carry various jaw accessories such as adapters and other utensils. This original iteration provided a convenient receptacle for work pieces, but was not designed for providing a steady support for a vise and thus not capable of resisting vise workload.
The base disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 6,640,666 proved to be very useful in storing the vise, but limited in its ability to provide the versatility and support needed while performing many common tasks, such as sawing, grinding, or pressing items together. I discovered that the base would flex and slide when pushing down on the work piece while sawing or grinding. While, making the base from a solid, non-hollow, single piece construction would help reduce the flexing, this construction would be too heavy and expensive.
Additionally, the design disclosed in my above-referenced patent was limited in that it only allowed me to mount and/or hold the vise in a horizontal position, with the jaws opening upwards, as shown in that patent. The need to press items together required that I support the vise in a vertical position, with the stationary jaw being positioned near the support surface, between the movable jaw and the support surface. Such a position would allow the user to rest the item against the feature that it is to be pressed into, and then use the movable jaw to squeeze the items together. Furthermore, the vertically mounted vise allowed the work piece to be held along a horizontal plane, which is highly useful when working on circuit boards, for example.
Still further, I often had to work on delicate, detailed items that required a very steady hand. This meant that the vise or support had to allow me to hold items at a level that allowed me to rest my hand or forearm on the table top while working on the work piece. Known devices that had to be mounted from the protruding edge of the bench did not allow me to gain this support for my arms and hands from the bench.
Therefore, a review of known devices reveals that there remains a need for a simple system for supporting a small vise on a tabletop, bench-top or other flat or generally flat surface.
There remains a need for a support base for a vise, the support base cooperating with the vise to allow support of the vise in various horizontal working locations to allow the vise to perform clamping functions as well as other functions, such as acting as a press.
There remains a need for a vise and base support system that provides sturdy retention of the vise while in use on various surfaces, without the need for mechanical fastening devices, such as bolts, screws, or lever action suction cups. Importantly, suction cups will not function properly on uneven or coarse surfaces. The unevenness of these surfaces will prevent the suction cups from maintaining the proper vacuum, and thus will lose their grip on the surface. The loss of vacuum by suction cups is a common problem even on smooth surfaces. Dirt or any other foreign matter on the work surface will result in a loss of vacuum and a loss of grasp of the surface.